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SimGHOSTS Simulation Champion Award Winner April 2019

04/30/2019

Congratulations to the SimGHOSTS Simulation Champion for April 2019 - Christian Cannady, Healthcare Simulation Specialist at UCLA School of Nursing.

Christian’s nomination highlighted his willingness to go above and beyond in both his work hours and role expectations to ensure a successful simulation program and quality learning experience. He also contributes to the healthcare simulation technology profession by mentoring and supporting those who are new to the industry. He is admired by many for his dedication, professionalism, technical knowledge and troubleshooting ability. Many of you may have come across Christian as he has a long history of involvement with SimGHOSTS, winning the Bug Busters contest in 2015 and presenting at the 2017 USA conference.

Christian’s background as a Hospital Corpsman in the Navy led him to start instructing in medic training courses. This combined with his exposure to military simulations enabled him to pivot into a simulation technician role in a nursing school in 2008. Since then, Christian has advanced his skills learning to operate and maintain all major brands of manikins, assist in research studies and provide support to other simulation programs.

His level-headed yet upbeat and friendly nature have earned Christian the respect of colleagues, faculty and students. It is one thing for faculty to acknowledge exemplary performance but when students take the time to send an email acknowledging the value of his support during skills labs you know you have somebody truly amazing at their job. Christian can tackle seemingly impossible challenges, such as the loss of two storage rooms mid-semester, with a calm and practical approach to find appropriate solutions. He has also established great relationships with vendors and suppliers and has been able to save the UCLA School of Nursing thousands of dollars through well researched purchasing recommendations.

Many simulation technologists have benefited from Christian’s guidance and advice as they have progressed in their careers. One fondly recalls his words of advice when running their first simulation. Christian acknowledged that small mistakes will happen but will likely go unnoticed, as long as they don’t impede the objectives of the simulation. This meant that when one of those small mistakes did happen, the technologist was quickly able to address it and, with a focus of maintaining the objectives of the simulation, was able to troubleshoot and prioritize instead of going into a panic. A clear pattern emerged in the words of those who have worked with Christian - they all thoroughly enjoyed working with him and are better at their jobs because of their time working with him.

Christian’s nomination was supported by multiple peers and the SimGHOSTS team were unanimous supporters of it was well, agreeing that he was certainly worthy of the SimGHOSTS Simulation Champion Award for April 2019.

Christian will receive an Award Certificate and a 3 month SimGHOSTS subscription for his nomination. Each July, voting for the Simulation Champion Trophy is opened featuring the monthly award winners from the previous 12 months. The winner is announced at our USA event in August and receives a trophy and a free registration to a SimGHOSTS event of their choice the following year. If you would like to nominate a Simulation Champion, please fill out the nomination form here.